India razes house of Muslim activist after protest over blasphemous remarks row

Police in Prayagraj, India, demolished the house of Muslim father-daughter activists two days after thousands of demonstrations in the city against the blasphemous statements of the BJP leaders.

Demonstrations in several cities in India were crushed by police, who used violent force and killed two Muslims in the eastern city of Ranchi.

Police were forced to open fire to disperse the demonstrators… resulting in the death of two people,” a police official in Ranchi told AFP on Saturday.

In Allahabad, police arrested more than 60 people, including Javed Mohammad, a leader of the Indian Welfare Party and the father of activist Afreen Fatima.

Afreen Fatima is a prominent student activist at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi and the former president of the Student Union at Women’s College, Aligarh Muslim University.

While Javed remained in detention, police began tearing down his house on Sunday afternoon, according to The Wire, a leading Indian website.

The family told journalists that policemen had been deployed at their homes since the 10th of June, but on the night of the 11th of June, they put a demolition notice on the house, claiming it was trespassing.

The family was asked to leave at 11 am on Sunday and two bulldozers started demolishing in the afternoon.

The footage on social media shows a magnificent concrete house demolished by heavy machines.

Local authorities accused Javed of orchestrating the demonstration on a row that started with BJP leader Nupur Sharma making blasphemous comments about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Her remarks drew a strong backlash in the Arab world, where a boycott call of Indian products forced the BJP government to suspend Sharma. However, the governing party did not take strong action against her when Qatar and other countries demanded a public apology.

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, with close ties with Arab leaders and other senior politicians has been silent on the issue and has not condemned Nupur Sharma’s remarks.